Ippu-Do/SHAZNA -- Sumire September Love (すみれ September Love)

Strangely enough, the first time I'd heard of this Japanese New Wave band was on the legendary Toronto program, "The New Music"when J.D. Roberts (now John Roberts, former CNN anchor) and Jeanne Beker had a special episode on the music of Japan. My first thought of the vocalist was that Duran Duran should have recruited him on the spot.

Ippu-Do（一風堂）was formed in 1979 with Masami Tsuchiya（土屋昌巳）as that lead vocal. I mentioned this when I profiled Junko Ohashi's（大橋純子）1977 album, "Crystal City", but Tsuchiya was the guitarist behind the track, "Funky Little Queenie". It wasn't until July 1982, though, that Ippu-Do hit paydirt with its 6th single, Tsuchiya-penned "Sumire September Love"（Violet September Love). Reminding me of some of YMO's earliest hits like "Tong Poo"and "Firecracker" in melody, Tsuchiya's vocals glide through Machiko Ryu's（竜真知子）lyrics like skates on ice.

The song managed to peak at No. 2 on the Oricon charts. Selling 450,000 records, "Sumire" also got picked up as the campaign song for a Kanebo Cosmetics commercial starring Brooke Shields. The above video has "The Best Ten" program handing it off to Ippu-Do at the Liverpool Empire Theatre in England. At the time, Tsuchiya was part of the world tour for UK band Japan. Ippu-Do, by the way, was named for a discount store located in Shibuya, Tokyo.

In October 1997, one of the big bands of Visual-Kei (Japan's version of Glam Rock), SHAZNA, released a cover of "Sumire September Love" as its 2nd single. Tsuchiya couldn't have asked for a better person to hand the baton to. It also peaked at No. 2 and was the 54th-ranked song of 1997. It can also be found on SHAZNA's 1st album, "Gold Sun and Silver Moon" released in January 1998.

Yukio Sasaki/Yasuhiro Abe/EPO -- September Valentine

Seeing that September was rapidly coming to a close, I was looking for any other kayo kyoku songs with the theme of either September or Fall. Of course, I already have Mariya Takeuchi's（竹内まりや） "September" profiled and will get to Ippu-Do's "September Love". Then, by pure accident, I came across this number that I had never heard even in all my years in Japan. On YouTube, I heard EPO's version and then read that the original singer was Yukio Sasaki（佐々木幸男）, a folk/pop singer based in Hokkaido. So I went to his version of the song and enjoyed it very much. All of the renditions come off as rather bluesy. Sasaki originally sang it in 1977 as his 3rd single.

I was surprised to find out that the composer for "September Valentine" was City Pop/J-AOR crooner Yasuhiro Abe（安部恭弘）. His official debut as a solo singer wouldn't happen for another 5 years, although he had been involved in a band called The Real McCoys with fellow singer-songwriter Masamichi Sugi（杉真理） in the 70s. When the band broke up, Abe continued to act as songwriter and backup vocal for other singers such as Mariya Takeuchi. His melody and delivery are mellow but the lyrics by Atsuko Saito（斉藤敦子）are bitter....the hurt protagonist softly chastises his possibly-soon-to-be-ex-lover at the suggestion of a breakup in their relationship. He did his original performance in 1977 at the Yamaha Popular Song Contest (affectionately nicknamed PopCon) in Tokyo. Abe would do another version for his 1994 album, "Passage" which is the video above.

Finally, this is EPO's version of the song that first got me hooked. Not sure where her version is located amongst her albums, but I came across information that it was no later than 1989.

Kozo Murashita -- Ashita Areba Koso （明日あればこそ）

(cover version)

"Ashita Areba Koso"(Indeed If There is a Tomorrow) is one of the late Kozo Murashita's（村下孝蔵） well-regarded songs that he wrote and composed for his 4th album, "Yume no Ato"（夢の跡）, in 1982. It was a song that I enjoyed on one of my tapings of "The Sounds of Japan"...and subsequently lost for a couple of decades....never knowing what the title was. A couple of nights ago, after putting in my entries for this blog, I just decided to look him up in YouTube and see if I could track it down. Found it all the way in the back, so to speak....good to hear it again after so long.

http://y.qq.com/#type=song&mid=003tjlPk1EVah9

It's a song of encouragement.....kinda like in the vein of "Bridge Over Troubled Water" by Simon & Garfunkel. The strings and Murashita's mellow voice and gentle guitar all help to create this tender ballad.

Top 10 Singles for 1994

1. Mr. Children           Innocent World
2. Kohmi Hirose         Romance no Kamisama
3. Ryoko Shinohara    Koishisa to Setsunasa to Kokorotsuyosa to
4. B'z                       Don't Leave Me
5. Miyuki Nakajima      Sora to Kimi no Aida ni
6. Yumi Matsutoya     Hello, My Friend
7. trf                       Survival Dance
8. Maki Ohguro          Anata dake Mitsumeteru
9. trf                       Boy Meets Girl
10. WANDS              Sekai ga Owaru made wa

A lot of new faces on this list at the time but Yuming and Miyuki are still there. I have a few stories about one of Tetsuya Komuro's "children", the technopop dance group, trf. The Komuro Family was one of the big things in J-Pop for a number of years during the 90s. And Mr. Children was making a huge splash on the scene. All of these people in the Top 10 started off my most recent phase in my J-Pop education. There are some of the other folks who didn't make the Top 10 but are still in my memories like ZARD, WANDS, and Fumiya Fujii.

TUBE -- Ah--Natsu Yasumi (あ～夏休み）

Wanted to get this under the wire before Summer completely leaves us, although the recent weather here in Toronto has shown that it probably already has.

It just wouldn't be a Summer without a TUBE song. And so, this was the band's big contribution for 1990 when it was released in May. Just to differentiate it a bit from past hits like "Season in the Sun" and "Summer Dream", the creators of "Ah--Natsu Yasumi"(Summer Vacation), lead vocal Nobuteru Maeda（前田亘輝）and guitarist Michiya Haruhata（春畑道哉）, added a bit of Latin spice to the melody.

The song reached No. 10 on Oricon and became the 48th-ranked song of the year. And it's also a track on the band's 10th album, "N-A-T-S-U"(June 1990) which peaked at the No. 2 spot.

Kohmi Hirose -- Romance no Kamisama （ロマンスの神様）

All hail the Queen of Winter! Kohmi Hirose（広瀬香美）has released a number of hits during the snow season, thus earning her the nickname. To this day, I can't really listen to a song of hers without the image of skis coalescing in my mind...and I've never even been on the slopes. My first Winter in Ichikawa, Chiba was in 1994 when I came across an Alpen commercial on TV; the company specializes in skis and snowboards, and a Hirose song, "Shiawase wo Tsukamitai"（幸せをつかみたい....I Wanna Grab Happiness), her 5th single, was the tie-up song.

But it's her 3rd and most successful single to date, "Romance no Kamisama" (God of Romance) that first got everyone singing her praises and her songs in the karaoke boxes and CD shops. I first heard this song when I went out to karaoke with some friends, and one of them tackled the tune. It's not an easy one to carry out since Hirose is famous for her sky-high voice. I think if she were an X-Man, she would be Banshee since what comes out of her larynx could potentially pierce through an unlucky orbiting satellite. Whenever anyone sang "Romance no Kamisama", we all waited to see if he/she could ride that crescendo and hit that high note in the middle of the song. Some made it....some didn't sing for the rest of the evening.

Not surprisingly, "Romance no Kamisama" was released in December 1993 and kept its No. 1 status going into the New Year. It would become the 2nd-ranking song of 1994, just behind Mr. Children's "Innocent World".

A story that has popped up on both Wikipedia and J-Wiki is that before the single was released, Hirose had made the president of her recording company promise that if the song sold more than a million copies, he would send the entire staff to Disney World in Florida all expenses paid. He assented, assuming that there would be no way of that happening. Well, the results were in...."Romance" easily passed 1.7 million discs in sales. And Victor Entertainment paid for about 10 staffers to get that trip to The Mouse House for 9 days. Still, I'm sure the pressure was on them to bring back one hell of an omiyage for the president.

"Romance no Kamisama" is also a track on Hirose's 3rd album, "SUCCESS STORY", also released in December 1993. It ended up reaching No. 2 on the charts and was the 26th-ranking album for 1994.

November 18, 2022: Not certain whether Hirose has attained some sort of record in memes, but over a decade following the whole "Geddan" thing with her hit "Promise" in 1997, it seems as if a new hit thing involving "Romance no Kamisama" landed with a splash in the last few months.

Alice -- Fuyu no Inazuma （冬の稲妻）

My first Alice entry, "Fuyu no Inazuma"(Winter Lightning) was the 70s folk/rock duo's first Top 10 hit, getting up to the No. 8 spot, after being released in October 1977. Their 11th single is one of the more toe-tappingly uptempo folk songs I've heard, notable for the repeated lyric, "You're rolling thunder" and then a breathy exhalation. It probably brings a lot of smiles even now especially to folks in their late 40s.

Alice consists of Shinji Tanimura（谷村新司） (lead vocals, guitar), Takao Horiuchi（堀内 孝雄）(vocals, guitar) and Tohru Yazawa（矢沢透）(drums). Back in 1970 during a concert tour in the United States, Tanimura, who had been the leader of an Osaka folk group, The Rock Candies, first met Yazawa who had been the guest drummer of another touring Tokyo soul band, Brown Rice. The two struck up a friendship and promised to go pro and set up their own band when they returned to Japan. Some time later, Tanimura would meet his future singing partner, Horiuchi, through a Kobe music appreciation club. Horiuchi himself was a vocal for a band with the imaginative name of Foolish Brother's Foot. Alice was born on Xmas Day 1971 in a room at a business hotel known as the Osaka Imperial.

Tanimura took care of the lyrics for "Fuyu no Inazuma", while Horiuchi composed the song. Both would later have successful solo careers with the former specializing in ballads while the latter would go into a mix of folk and enka. Tanimura also has had a songwriting career for other singers as well, with probably his proudest moment being the artist behind "Ii Hi Tabidachi"（いい日旅立ち）, one of Momoe Yamaguchi's（山口百恵）greatest songs.

"Fuyu no Inazuma" can also be found on the album "ALICE VI", released in April 1978 and also a No. 1 record.